Second Chance
by Laureliz52
Summary: When her big brother Emmett is killed in a freak hiking trip, a young Bella and her father struggle to cope with the loss. But when Emmett returns a few years later to check in on his family's well-being, he is shocked at what he finds. Whisking Bella away from this life of pain and solitude, Emmett brings the young human into a family of vampires.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Emmy, I'm tired," the young girl whined, swatting away the various bug that buzzed around her face. "Are we almost done?"

"Why'd you ask to go hiking with me if you were just going to complain the whole time?" Emmett replied with a chuckle, slowing down to match his younger sister's sluggish pace.

"I'm not complaining! This is just taking too long and I'm tired and-" Her drawn out whines were quickly replaced by a squeal of glee as Emmett snatched her off the dirt path and plopped her right on top of his beefy shoulders.

"Well I guess if you're so tired we should just head back," he teased, adding a bounce to his step to invoke even more giggles from the girl perched on his shoulders. "We're so close to reaching the waterfall, but I guess I'm just going to have to carry you back home since you're so tired and everything…"

"No! I can make it, I promise!" She insists, her tiny body shaking with the effort to sound serious despite the laughter threatening to burst through. "But you better keep me up here, just to make sure that I don't get too tired," she quickly adds.

Bellowing a hearty laugh, Emmett adheres to his sister's request as he continues on the well worn path through the Olympic Peninsula. Pointing out all the various plants and animals along the way, his heart lifts every time he hears the soft chuckle from his younger sister. He was hoping that today's activities would help bring the light back to her eyes, the carefree innocence that every six year-old should have, the light that all but disappeared from her the year prior. His grip subconsciously tightened on Bella's legs as his mind wandered back to the fateful day where he nearly lost her.

He fights off a shiver as he remembers being pulled out of his senior year literature class by his nervous-looking principal, being led down the harshly lit fluorescent hallway to meet his father in the dark office. His memory of the following minutes gets murky, his mind only conjuring up phrases of apology from the secretarial staff of his school. The picture skips forward to another meeting, this time with a doctor in the lobby of the local hospital. The doctor's words in Emmett's mind were uninterpretable, but her grim expression and eyes directed towards the floor spoke more than any explanation could.

From there, his memory turns towards one of violence, his recollection tinted red as he turns his anger out on the wall. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, Emmett whips around, ready to redirect his violent energy on whatever innocent soul dared to interrupt him from his rage. However, his fury starts to mute as the kind-faced doctor points her hand towards his seemingly catatonic father, extremely pale and slumped across the floor. She leads him out of the hallway, ensuring that Charlie would be well looked after by the other staff.

The doctor leads a distraught Emmett into a small room and starts to examine his hand, swollen and bloody from his assault on the wall. Finding no serious damage to have been done, she simply hands him an ice pack and motions for him to sit in the chair. In the same sympathetic voice that she used just minutes before to officially break the news, she tells Emmett that he has to be strong, and that a broken hand would do nothing to help piece back together a broken family. While his father, Charlie, should be the one to help bear the emotional overload, no one had been able to break through his catatonic state to relay any new information.

Silently leading him to another room, the kind doctor stops in front and turns to look at the distraught young man in front of her. She subtly shakes her head, feeling intense sorrow for this barely-eighteen year-old who was now tasked with holding his family together in a time of tragedy. She opens the door and slightly winces when she hears Emmett's sharp intake of breath. She quietly catalogues the list of injuries that resulted from the careless actions of the local drunk running a red light a few hours prior, and then squeezes his shoulder before exiting the room, giving the boy the privacy he deserves.

Emmett solemnly walks over to the bed and settles himself in the flimsy plastic char. His eyes rake over the broken body in front of him, and he gingerly reaches out to grasp the tiny hand in his own. And in the privacy of the cramped hospital room, he finally allows himself to completely break down. Hunched over the small sleeping girl on the bed, he allows the sobs to completely overtake his body. With his eyes still blurry from tears, he reaches out to push the hair off of Isabella's face, and bends down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. In that moment, he finds comfort in her unconsciousness, knowing that her fragile mind is at least momentarily protected from the pain all around them. He looks at his dear sister's face, so terribly bruised yet serene in her slumber, and dreads the moment when she will eventually wake up. For he knows that when she wakes up, he will be the one to relay the tale of the crash that not only nearly took her own life, but unfortunately took the life of their mother.

As the months went on, the Swan family slowly started to heal. Crutches were discarded and bandages were removed as Bella worked her way back up to her physical peak. Emotionally, Emmett stood by her side and helped her cope as well as any five year-old could with the death of a mother. As Charlie threw himself into his work as a means of distraction from the loss of his beloved wife, Emmett became more and more like a father figure to his younger sister. Helping her through her physical pains and holding her when her emotions were too much to handle, the two of them quickly formed an impenetrable bond that they believed could help them get through almost anything.

A sharp squeal brought Emmett out of his musings as he saw a butterfly land on Bella's arm. "Look Emmy! He landed one me!" She squeaked out through her fit of giggles.

"You think that's cool? Well look up, Bells, we finally made it."

Emmett set his sister down and followed as she ran towards the waterfall, reaching her hands out so she could touch the cold rushing water. He smiled contently, happy that he found the perfect place to tell her his plans for the next year. Instead of leaving straight for college, he decided to take some classes at the local community college so that he could stay back for an additional year and make sure that she was settled in school before he headed out full-time. He knew how much anxiety the thought of him leaving has been causing the young girl, and he was eager to see her face once he spilled the news.

Opening his mouth to begin telling her, he was quickly cut off by Bella's piercing scream. Quickly glancing over her to see that there was no physical damage done, he slowly turned around to examine his surroundings. He almost immediately noticed a small bear club, and exhaled a sigh of relief. Seeing the sole cub, he knew that he could just take Bella and they could easily leave before any damage was done, but that gleeful thought was cut short when he heard the deep growl on his other side. Turning his head, he swept his sister behind him as he made eye contact with the large bear just yards away from where they stood.

"Bella, I need you to turn around and run home. Take my phone on the ground and call Dad. Don't step a foot off the path, it'll lead you straight to the backyard. I'll meet you there."

"But-" she started to complain, but her whimpers were cut off by another growl, as the bear started to lurch towards them.

Emmett knew that if he approached the bear, then Bella would get home safe. With a soft push, he nudged Bella back into the woods, desperate to have her leave before the bear lunged at them. "Please, Bells. Go get Dad. I'll meet you there, I promise."

Not breaking eye contact with the bear, Emmett smiled as he hear the soft patter of his sister's feet recede into the trees, safe on the path back home. Staying as still as possible, he knew that he had to keep the bear there until Bella was safe.

As the minutes passed, Emmett slowly took a step back, hoping that he could quietly disappear into the woods without much fanfare. Unfortunately, the bear had other ideas.

Still running through the woods, the crunch of the leaves beneath her feet drowned out by the cries to her father over the phone, Bella fell to her knees as she heard the undeniable scream off her dear brother somewhere off in the distance.

 **Hey guys! I've had this idea running around my head for a while, so I decided to take a shot and try writing it out for all of you. Please review and let me know how you like it!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **EmPOV**

I clench my eyes shut, trying to drown out the mindless chatter of the humans sitting all around me. With one hand carelessly stirring the wasted coffee cup sitting on the café table, Rosalie gave my other hand a small squeeze of reassurance as I tried to control the constant burn in my throat. Deeply inhaling, I focus on forcing down the burn, fighting against every instinct to pounce and massacre the whole coffee shop. Exhaling with a slight smirk, I think back to the progress I've made throughout my first few years as a vampire.

Waking up after my change had been the most confusing moment of my life. Feeling the last putters of my heart before it finally gave out, abruptly ending the intense pain that encompassed my body for a seemingly indeterminable amount of time. Flashing my eyes open to meet a pair of gold eyes, I felt all of the tension in my body immediately relax as I melted into the kind gaze.

After a quick introductory course of Vampire 101, my new family took me out hunting, promising that it would quell the piercing burn in my throat. Immediately hearing the dull pounding of a heart, the whish of blood coursing through the innocent body of my prey, I let my instincts take over. I pounce and effortlessly snap the neck of my target, and it wasn't until the body was all but drained before I actually glimpsed at the creature lying dead in front of me.

Staring into the beady eyes of the lifeless bear in front of my, images of the last several moments of my human life assaulted my mind. I hold back a growl as my feet started to race off on their own volition, my nose desperately searching for a scent of familiarity that might lead me back home.

Running through the dense foliage, my new reflexes expertly weaving my large form through the trees, I tried desperately to geographically locate myself so that I could navigate myself back to the meadow where I last saw my defenseless sister.

My trek gets interrupted when I feel a brick wall slam into my side, throwing me down onto the forest floor. I snarl at the coper-haired vampire, the one who so recently introduced himself as Edward. Quickly overpowering him with my newfound strength, I turned to continue my rampage through the trees when my eyes fell upon my kind-faced savior.

Rosalie, the one who carried my dilapidated human body to her father, the one who granted me a second chance at life, gently approaches my shaking form. Collapsing to my knees, I allowed tearless sobs to overcome me once more. "Where is she?" I whispered, as Rosalie's frame gingerly embraced my heaving body.

"Who?" She asked, concern etched into her eyes.

"Bella," I choked out, looking up to meet Rosalie's confused gaze. "My baby sister. She was with me, in the meadow. I need- is she-" I couldn't bring myself to imagine the possibility of what could have happened. I know that not enough time had passed between her departure and the bear's attack for her to have gotten home safely, and I prayed with my every being that by some miracle, she made it home unscathed.

I look up at Rosalie and saw the gentle shake of her head. "I'm sorry, when I got there, it was just you. I didn't even see the bear who attacked you, it must have wandered off."

My breath unnecessarily catches in my throat at her response. "Please, I need to go find her. I won't do anything, I just need to see that she's ok."

I look up to Edward, begging him to release his steel tight grip on my shoulders, and my heart falls when I see his shake his head. "Sorry, man, but you're still too unstable. If you get anywhere near her your instincts will take over and you'll attack her."

Not willing to put her life at risk, we all run back to the house and scoured the news. We find several news articles outlining the horrific bear attack that tragically took the life of the local police chief's son, none of which mentioned a second casualty. Once again unnecessarily exhaling my breath in a sigh of relief, I redirected my attention towards acclimating into this newfound undead existence.

Flashing back to the present, I share my grin with Rosalie when I successfully push back the twinge of thirst, not feeling any desire to attack. We walk out of the café, thankfully leaving the foul-smelling coffee on the table. Each of us getting in our respective car, we rev the engine and start to race back to the Cullen mansion.

Feeling the wind rush past my body in my doorless Jeep, I give a quick thanks to Rosie in my head for replacing the engine to better suit my vampire speed. Taking the turns at breakneck, I flip Rosie off as I pass her on the turn into our long driveway.

Racing neck and neck on the road to the mansion, she inches past me in the last couple feet and jumps out of her cherry red Porsche with a smirk. I jump out of my car and tackle her to the ground, rolling around the ground and pressing my mouth to hers to quiet her squeals.

"Emmett get off of me, Alice is going to kill you for ruining this outfit," Rosalie gleefully complains as she pushes me off her chest.

A snort erupted from behind us, "You're right about that." My pixyish sister walks out from the house, her face a mix of humor and disgust. "Honestly, Emmett, you do know that you have a bed upstairs, right? And we all know it certainly isn't for sleeping."

"Aw shut it Alice," I say, brushing the loose dirt off of my clothing. "We've all seen you and Jasper do ten times worse."

"Go ahead, keep teasing me. I guess I won't tell you what I saw earlier today."

I raced over to her, blocking her from skipping away. "What did you see?"

"I saw all our future disappear in a couple hours," she replied with a smirk.

If Alice were to say this a few years prior, this would be a sign of utmost alarm. Over the past five years, however, Alice only got a blank outlook when she tried to look into Bella's future. The lack of insight into my younger sister's future has frustrated Alice to no end, but she always attributed it to the fact that the two have never met.

But by the wide grin spread across Alice's face, it seemed like that was about to change.

Walking inside to formulate a plan of action, we quickly find the rest of the family in the great room. The positive energy in the room was palpable, everyone clearly excited to finally meet the girl who they've heard so many stories of over the years. The only person not sharing this buoyant energy was Carlisle.

"I know you're excited, son, but you have to remember that you can't let Bella see you. She believes you to be dead."

"I know," my head drops slightly in defeat, but I still can't find it in myself to wipe the smile off of my face. "But I need to make sure that she's okay, that she's happy. She took it so hard after Mom's death, I need to make sure that she's recovered."

Carlisle nodded his head, his eyes beaming with pride. Even though he wasn't my biological father, Carlisle flawlessly assumed the father figure in my new life and I found myself yearning for his approval and respect.

Esme, on the other hand, has always been much easier to please. She runs over to me and throws her arms around my neck, her body practically shaking with excitement. "I'm so proud of you," she whispers in my ear.

I grin back at her. Throughout my five years with the Cullens, Esme has been the only one who truly understood what I've gone through. After losing her baby all those years ago, she has always been rooting for me to prevent me from going through that same pain. Helping me acclimate to being around humans was a long and tedious task, but she was always there to make sure that I was one-hundred percent before I went anywhere close to Bella.

"Thank you," I whisper back to her as we all sit down to discuss our plan. She just nods in response, her beaming smile never once leaving her face.

The next couple of hours were a whir of action, and before I knew it, I found myself sitting next to Rosalie in her car. Racing up the parkway towards my old hometown, my hand starts to tap in nervous anticipation. Is this really the right choice? Will I really be able to just sneak a glimpse at my baby sister and then walk away?

While I knew that the level of closeness between Bella and myself is quite unusual, Jasper and Edward always quick to point out that I was 'whipped,' I wouldn't have changed anything for the world. Considering the thirteen-year age gap between us, our relationship has been different right from the get-go. With both Charlie and Renee working full time jobs, I quickly assumed the role of Bella's babysitter every day after school. Her constant clumsiness forced me to follow her around like a hawk, and soon I was threatening any child, animal, or pavement that threatened to make her cry. And while my overprotective tendencies may have seen overbearing to the random passerby, they were what was necessary to keep my clumsy Bells out of harm's way.

"Everything's going to be fine, you know." Rosalie's voice interrupts me from my pondering.

"Yeah, I know, I just hate that I won't be able to talk to her." I respond, my shoulders sagging a little.

"But I am going to talk to her, and we'll both see how happy she is. Trust me, everything's going to work out fine and you're finally going to get the closure you need."

"Thanks for doing this for me, Rosie." I place my hand on top of hers on the gear stick and give it a light squeeze, gazing off onto the road ahead and counting down the minutes until our arrival.

After a couple of hours of driving, we finally pull up to the small podunk town of my childhood. Glancing at the clock, I let out a small sigh of relief when I see the time- 6:45 on a Friday evening. If I remember anything about Charlie, I remember his routine. Every Friday at 6:30 sharp, he would take the family out for dinner at the diner. Hoping that he hasn't broken this tradition during my absence, I close my eyes and direct Rosalie to the local dive.

Driving past the diner, I whip out my phone to quickly call my family, ensuring that everyone made it. Directing everyone to park in the vacant lot a couple blocks away, knowing that a set of shiny new cars in the parking lot would surely cause uproar in the tiny town, I jump out of Rose's car as soon as it comes to a stop. Deeply inhaling the rustic scent, pleasant memories of my human life flood my mind. I turn around when I hear the rest of our fleet pull up, and I follow a few steps behind while we make the short walk over to where the Swan family will surely be sitting.

When we reach our destination, I tug my hat a little further down to better hide my face and give my new family one last smile before I walk behind the restaurant. Crouching behind a bush with a perfect view of a window that leads into the main dining room, my eyes quickly scan the tables. My brow furrows in concern when I don't recognize any of the patrons, and I whisper to my upsetting revelation, and observe their subtle nods as they approach the hostess desk.

"Table for six?" The teenage waitress asks my adoptive father, obnoxiously smacking her gum with each word.

"Actually, we were just stopping by with a quick question," Carlisle announces, stepping to the front of the small crowd.

"Sorry, we don't offer takeout," the girl interjects in a bored tone, "if you're hungry you're gonna have to take a seat." She looks down and starts to assemble a small stack of menus to distribute.

"Thank you, ma'am," Carlisle responds in his cordial speech, making the girl in front of him slightly swoon, "but we're here on more personal matters. Would you happen to know where we can find a certain Charles Swan?"

The waitress snorts and cocks one of her eyebrows. "Charles Swan, now that's a name I haven't heard in years."

"What do you mean? Does he not live here?" Carlisle asks, confusion etched across his face. Of course we did our research before making the trek over here, and there was no record of him ever leaving this town. According to both public and private records, the Swan family hasn't moved towns in over twenty years.

"Nope," she responds, and I wince as she pops her gum. "That crazy loon-hole skipped town with his mute of a daughter a few years back. Never heard from him since."

If I were human, I would have passed out right there and then. My vision starts to spin as I grip onto the side of the building for support, and I fade out of the rest of the conversation. Charlie crazy? Bella mute? My death surely couldn't have caused this, could it? There's no way my fun-loving sister could just give up and stop talking, my mouth gapes in disbelief. And Charlie has always been the most serious, down-to-earth person you could imagine. Sure, I could see him as depressed after my death, but certainly not crazy.

"Emmett, man, calm down. Your thoughts are going a mile a minute." I look up at Edward, not knowing when he came outside, but my body didn't stop shaking. "Jas?"

I finally let out a breath when I feel Jasper's calming waves wash over me. I give him a slight smile in gratitude and look around at the rest of my family. "What's going on? Did that twit give you any usable information?"

"I'm sorry, Em." Rose walks up to me and starts rubbing my shoulders, staring at me with evident concern. "Apparently your father had some sort of breakdown a couple years ago and ran off with Bella. Nobody has any idea where they went, but she said we can try checking in with the police station."

"Well what the fuck are we waiting for?" I jump up and start racing back to the car, not taking any time to see if anyone noticed my inhuman speeds.

Ditching the car and running straight to the police station, I pause outside and wait momentarily for my family. As eager as I was to figure out this whole damn mess, I know that Charlie's long-dead son can't just stroll in there and start asking questions. As much as this was killing me, we had to stick to the script.

Once again finding a secure spot for me to watch the interaction, this time with Rose accompanying me, I watch with baited breath as my family walks into the precinct.

Just as before, Carlisle takes the lead and inquires about Charlie's location. Unlike before, however, this officer responds to Carlisle's query with a concerned glance. "And who might you be?"

"My name's Jasper, sir." He steps in front of Carlisle and offers his hand to the officer in greeting. "I used to be friends with Emmett, and I'm afraid that I lost touch with his family throughout the years." Wringing his hands and directing his gaze towards his feet, Jasper perfectly plays the role of a nervous human. "I was wondering if you'd be able to tell me where he moved to, I would love the chance to catch up with him and Bella."

The officer looks around uncomfortably before finally settling his gaze on my family. "I'm sorry, he didn't give us much notice before leaving town. Emmett's death really hit him and Bella hard, and he all but stopped coming into work after that. I know that he used to talk about moving to Phoenix, but that was before the accident. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more helpful information, Emmett was truly a great kid."

I vaguely hear Jasper mutter some sort of thanks, but my mind is too busy mapping out the quickest route to Arizona.

 **Please leave reviews and let me know if you're liking the story so far! I'll try and get the next chapter up for you guys as soon as I can**


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